


Perfect

by TeekiJane



Series: The Boys of Summer [14]
Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 11:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeekiJane/pseuds/TeekiJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've got to do something pretty serious in the Pike household before you get the "We're so disappointed in you" speech.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect

_Hey, dad, look at me_  
 _Think back and talk with me_  
 _Did I grow up according to plan?_  
Simple Plan, Perfect  
 **John**

I was supposed to have July fifth off from work, but I had a few pieces of paperwork that I hadn’t finished on Friday so I went in to the office to finish them. I left early before anyone else was awake, figuring I’d be able to spend most of the day with as much of my family as I could. 

I got home around ten thirty in the morning to find the lawn looking shaggy and miserable. One of my sons is supposed to mow it every weekend, and clearly it hadn’t been done. I stopped to think about whose turn it was so I knew who to be irritated with. Nick had spent most of last weekend avoiding the job, only to do it in the dark on Sunday night. That made this weekend Byron’s turn. 

I remembered now. Byron had been scheduled to work both Saturday and Sunday, so he’d promised to do it first thing Monday morning. Here it was, approaching noon on Monday, and the lawn was still untouched. That wasn’t like Byron, but maybe he was still asleep. It wasn’t too unusual for him to sleep until eleven, especially if he’d been up late the night before. 

I entered by the back door and went upstairs to Byron and Nick’s room, planning to rouse him from his sleep. The room was empty, both beds unmade. There was nothing unusual about that. As I was walking back to the stairs, I heard voices from Adam and Jordan’s room. Thinking maybe Byron had stopped in for a chat, I knocked at the door and entered without waiting for a reply. Jordan was alone, on the phone. He looked mildly annoyed that I was in his space. “Seen Byron?” I asked. 

He went on talking to whomever was on the other end of the line. “I won’t be able to go on that trip this year. I leave for college right after the start of August. We’ve got some kind of training camp before school actually starts.” Jordan made eye contact with me and shook his head. I headed back out and closed the door behind me. 

When I’d entered the house earlier, I’d heard Dee having a ‘discussion’ with Margo in the living room. As I went to head back downstairs, Margo came stomping back up the stairs. I moved out of the way to let her pass and she went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. I’ve learned it’s pointless to tell her to cut it out when she’s behaving like that, so I just shook my head and joined Dee in the living room. 

She was furiously dusting the coffee table, working out her aggression with each swipe. “Let me guess,” I said, and Dee looked up at me. “It was the belly button ring again, wasn’t it?” 

Dee rolled her eyes. “I told her we’ll talk when she turns sixteen, and she told me I was ruining her life. Again. Good to know she’s consistent, at least.” 

I shook my head again. “Did you see Byron go out this morning?” I asked. 

She blew some stray hairs out of her eyes. “Let me think. Vanessa left about thirty minutes ago. She said she needed Haley’s help with a ‘top secret mission.’ I told her I didn’t want to know.” She picked up the can of Pledge and moved on to the next piece of furniture. “And Mal and Adam went to work first thing this morning. That’s all I’ve seen leave.” She paused. “You might want to ask Nick, though. He’s in the rec room, and if the shouting coming from there sporadically is any hint, Claire’s down there annoying him.” 

Sure enough, Nick was playing a video game and Claire was sitting on the other side of the couch. The set of his jaw told me that he’d rather she weren’t there, and I soon understood why. “Oh my God,” she said, leaning toward him. “How much time have you spent playing this game, and you still can’t pass this level?” she taunted. 

Nick growled and was about to let her have it when he realized I was there. “Oh, hey Dad,” he said. Claire scooted back to her own side of the couch. 

I surveyed the two of them but decided to let them solve their own petty squabbles. Nick would be sixteen in a few days, and Claire was nearly thirteen. They were old enough to deal with it without trying to kill each other. Instead I just got straight to the point. “Nick, did Byron tell you where he was going when he went out this morning?” 

Nick hit the pause button on the video game, and that’s when I knew he was serious. “Dad, Byron didn’t come home last night. Or if he did, he didn’t sleep in his bed.” 

I think my heart skipped a beat. Had it been one of the other two triplets, I’d have assumed that he’d just spent the night out with a girl. Both Adam and Jordan have been grounded in the past for coming home well past curfew. But Byron was always home when he said he would be. Admittedly, before this summer, if he’d been out, he’d always been at Haley’s house and he could be home in thirty seconds if he needed to be. 

I thought back to the night before when Dee and I had come home from the festival downtown. It was about eleven thirty and Mallory had been the only one up and about, emptying the dishwasher and refilling it. “How’d your party go?” Dee had asked her. 

She’d smiled. “Great! It was good seeing everyone again and catching up.” Mal had closed the dishwasher and started wiping down the counters, doing the last of her clean up. “Let’s see here,” she’d said, anticipating my next question. “Mrs. Brewer dropped Margo and Nick off about ten thirty. Jordan took Claire with him to the fireworks, and they got home just after eleven, with Vanessa. Oh, and Byron said he’ll be home by midnight.” 

I had mentally counted the kids. “What about Adam?” 

She had made a face. “ _He_ never left. I think the triplets were trying to annoy my friends and me as much as possible, so he and Tiff spent the whole evening here. They were supposed to go with Jordan and Haley to the fireworks, but I get the feeling that the girlfriends don’t get along.” She’d thrown the sponge back in the sink. “I’m headed off to bed now. Night.” 

After that, Dee and I had gone off to bed. Had one of the younger kids still been out, I would have waited up, but I had no worries that Byron would make it home safely. Now I regretted that move. 

I walked back into the living room. “Dee, Nick says Byron never came home last night.” She raised an eyebrow to the news and started dusting the pictures that lined one wall. “I’m concerned. Do you think I should call the hospitals and police?” 

Dee looked at me over her shoulder. “John, he’s a teenaged boy. Granted, he’s a well-behaved, well-mannered teenaged boy most of the time, but honestly, he’s eighteen. If he didn’t come home last night, you should call Jeff’s house first.” 

“Yeah, but…”

Dee was now straightening all the photos. There were eight columns of photographs—the top one a hospital photo of a newborn baby. Below that, a picture taken on the child’s first day of kindergarten and another on the tenth birthday. All the columns but the last—Claire’s—featured a thirteenth birthday photo, and the first four columns had graduation photos. Dee’s joked that she’s going to put wedding photos under there, and that someday she’s going to clear another wall to put up photos of our grandchildren. “No buts, John. There are two places Byron would go, and we know he’s not at the Braddocks’. Carolyn would have sent him home by now. First check Jeff’s house, and he’s not there, then you can worry about calling the morgue, okay?” 

Sometimes, I think Dee gets so into Mom-mode that she has a hard time coming out of it, but in this case, I realized she was right. I went into the kitchen and flipped through the notepad full of phone numbers. One page was completely full of numbers for the kids’ friends. The page was so old that near the top it said Braddock (Haley friends with Vanessa, Matt friends with Nicky) I scrolled down to an entry that said Schafer (Jeff, Dawn) and then a phone number. After that was written in Spier (Mary Anne). I picked up the phone and dialed. 

A male voice answered the phone. “Spier residence.” 

I struggled for a moment to remember what Jeff’s stepfather’s name was before I finally said, “Mr. Spier? This is John Pike, Byron’s father.” 

“Well, hello! How can I help you today?” He was trying hard to be pleasant, but he sounded a little nervous that I would be calling. 

I took a deep breath, trying to dissolve the worry that was building in my gut. “I was hoping to speak to Jeff. Byron didn’t make it home last night, and I’m worried. I’m hoping Jeff can give me some information.” 

I could hear him jostling the phone. “I believe Jeff is still asleep. I’ll go wake him and bring him to the phone.” 

He set the phone down with an audible thunk. Quite a while passed and I became concerned that maybe I’d been forgotten. I was just about to hang up and call the police, even without speaking to Jeff, when the phone was picked back up. “I’m sorry that took so long,” Mr. Spier said, “but I think I solved your problem. I found Byron asleep with Jeff in his room. I assume you’d like me to send your son right home?” 

I don’t even remember what I said next, other than to thank him. I returned to the living room to find Jordan talking with Dee. “So Shane’s thinking of having a huge party in two weeks or so. I told him I’d go as long as there’s not a keg. I really hate when everyone gets stupid drunk.” He stopped when he realized I was there. “Hey, Dad.” 

I didn’t even acknowledge the fact that he was having a conversation with his mother that he would have never knowingly had with me in the room. I simply reached into my pocket and pulled out all the cash I had on hand. “Jordan. Take your brothers and sisters out. Use my car.” 

Jordan looked surprised. “What do you want me to do with them?” 

“Take them to the movies. Or out to lunch. I don’t care. Just get them out and don’t come home for at least an hour.” 

He raised his eyebrows. “Ooh, someone’s in trouble.” 

Dee turned to him. “Get going or it’ll be you in trouble!” Jordan skedaddled down into the rec room. “He was at Jeff’s, wasn’t he?” she asked. I didn’t bother answering her. 

Instead I went upstairs and knocked on the girls’ door. “Margo, out now. You’re going out with your brothers and sister.” 

Margo threw the door open. She recognized the tone of voice and did what she was told without argument. She met Jordan, Nick and Claire in the kitchen and picked up her purse from one of the chairs. “What’s going on?” she asked her assembled siblings. “Who’s in trouble this time?” 

Nick looked at her over his shoulder. “I don’t think you’d believe me even if I told you,” he said as Claire opened the back door and the four of them filed out. 

I heard the car roar to life—Jordan drives with a lead foot—and I returned to Dee. “The Spiers sent Byron home on foot,” I informed her. 

She smiled a bit smugly. “I told you that you didn’t need to call the police.” 

The front door opened and timid footsteps came in. It was either Vanessa or Byron, and Vanessa usually wears heavy boots, even in these warm summer months. Plus, she would have had no reason to walk so cautiously as that. “We’re in the living room, son,” I called. 

Byron came in the door slowly. His hair was uncombed and his clothes were rumpled, and his eyes were still half asleep. But a quick look at him indicated that he was filled with dread for what was about to happen. 

Dee hadn’t seemed too upset by the turn of events, but seeing her son look like he was punishing himself before we could get to him was clearly softening her heart even further. I took a deep breath and assessed how mad I was. Technically, Byron hadn’t really broken any rules—he’s eighteen and a high school graduate, so he has no curfew. Most of the rules in the house are about keeping sex, violence and illicit substances out of the house. If I’d walked in and found Jeff in Byron’s bed, it would be one thing. But I wasn’t sure what to do about _this._ While I was still internally debating, Byron spoke up. “Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. Jeff and I were hanging out at his place last night and I just fell asleep. Jeff didn’t want to wake me, so he let me sleep there. I had every intention of being home when I said I would.” 

I gave him a stern look. “And what were you and Jeff doing before you fell asleep?” 

Byron paused, and that was when I realized just how different the triplets can be. I’d asked basically the same question to both Adam and Jordan in the past. Adam had carefully maneuvered me around the question by answering something different than what I’d asked. He’d told me all about his dinner and movie plans for earlier that evening. Jordan had gotten angry and yelled, “What do you _think_ we were doing?!” Byron just let the pause grow until it became obvious that he didn’t want to lie to me, but he wasn’t about to say what he’d been doing, either. 

“Never mind that.” I could see Dee’s eyebrows knitting together out of the corner of my vision. Despite her commentary on teenaged hormones, she still thinks of our sons as little boys. The idea of Byron—the latest of our late bloomers—crawling into someone’s bed was breaking her heart. 

I sighed. “I have to tell you,” I said, directing my attention fully back to Byron, “that I’m disappointed in you. You have four younger brothers and sisters, and your mother and I expect you to model appropriate behavior for them. You have to understand that staying out all night is not the same as not being home when you said you would be. Nick knows you didn’t come home last night, and Claire heard when he told me. Once Claire knows something, everyone in this house knows it. And I do not want my children thinking that staying out all night is an option.” 

He hung his head all through my speech and I could see he was struggling not to cry. “Okay. Lecture over. I suggest you get the lawn done now, before Jordan brings everyone home. I have the feeling you’d rather not be around when they get back.” 

Byron paused, as if waiting for more, and then ran out of the living room so fast I’m surprised he didn’t trip on his way up the stairs. Dee eyed me critically. “Weren’t you awfully easy on him?” she asked. 

“Yeah.” Something about my tone of voice stopped her from going into a tirade. “Let’s face it though, Dee. For four years, I haven’t had to punish him once. So yeah, when he did screw up, he screwed up big time, but I believe him when he says he fell asleep. Besides, I don’t think he’ll do it again, do you?” Dee nodded, conceding the point. “In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s a bit afraid to go to Jeff’s all together for a while.” 

Dee was contemplative. “That would be a shame, actually. I’m really trying to encourage this relationship with Jeff. Byron’s always been sort of uncomfortable in his skin, and it seems like everyone’s always trying to make him be something he’s not. His brothers want him to be more athletic and less afraid. His classmates want him to be straight. From what I’ve seen and heard, Jeff just kind of takes Byron for who he is, warts and all. It’s nice for him to get that kind of validation from someone other than Haley.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “Did you know, John, that Carolyn told me this winter that she was seriously worried about what Haley was going to do when Byron left for college. I think she’s still worried, but not nearly so much, even though Haley will now be losing Byron _and_ Jordan.” She chuckled. “Hard to believe our boys have been such a positive influence on someone.” 

I heard the lawn mower start in the backyard, and then sputter to a stop. Byron let loose a string of expletives that would have made a sailor blush. Dee let out a laugh that almost could have been a sob and plopped down on the couch, patting the seat next to her. I sat down as the mower started a second time, more successfully. 

We’d only been sitting there for a moment or more when Vanessa appeared in the doorway. “Can you explain to me,” she asked, half-serious, half-mocking, “why Byron is out in the front yard, sobbing his heart out as he mows the lawn? Mr. Braddock thought he’d cut his hand or something, but I told him only emotional pain makes Byron cry. So, did the mower insult him or what?” She didn’t wait for an answer, just walked back out of the room cheerfully. 

I watched her go. “Think she’ll end up as positive an influence on Haley as her brothers?” Dee asked. 

I pretended to ponder that. “No. Honestly, the more time Haley spends with Vanessa, the more likely she is to get arrested.” 

Dee pretended she wasn’t laughing. “John! What a horrible thing to say about your own daughter!” 

I shook my head. “Naw. She and Haley will be fine. Vanessa might be a little…different…these days, but you know she’ll turn out fine in the end. After all, she’s one of ours, isn’t she?”


End file.
